2005 All Star Dunk Contest

This year's NBA All Star Game held in Denver, CO was packed with all star quality. I will briefly mention the three-point shootout contest, won by Phoenix Suns star, Quentin Richardson. The Suns took 3 out of the 4 events but it was the young kid from the ATL, Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks, that made me proud to be an NBA fan. The reason I watch the NBA is because of players like him.

The judges were from the original slam dunk contest, Artis Gilmore, Larry Kenon, George Gervin, David Thompson and Julius Erving aka Dr. J.

For one of his first attempts, Smith had Denver Nuggets player Kenyon Martin sit in a chair and throw the ball up as he jumped over him, he did a windmill and made the left hand dunk! Ten's all around by the judges. When he made that dunk I sat up and took notice. I was so enthralled by the replays I think he got me pregnant.


Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns raised the creativity factor when he bounced the ball off the backboard, off teammate Steve Nash's head, the alley oop reverse and dunked it into the basket! I thought it couldn't get any better than that. Magic Johnson could only say, "The dunk contest is back!"

When Smith came back to prove his skills were still on point, he paid homage to Dominique Wilkins by putting on his throw back Hawks jersey and nailing 'Nique's Windmill Slam. He was able to make the dunk on his first attempt in perfect form. It was one thing to bring the jersey out but to make that dunk made the moment surreal as evidenced by the standing ovation by the crowd which included Wilkins.

Stoudemire comes back but the pressure is on after the Smith's nod to one of the NBA's most underrated players. Before he even made his first shot, Charles Barkley made a statement that Stoudemire "could not palm the ball or fly as well as Smith." He would go on to miss his first few attempts. He made the last one but received low scores. Afterwards, Dr. J., one the judges, said punctuation is key so if he'd made that dunk on his first attempt he'd have gotten a higher score. It was mediocre at best.

Smith answers to Stoudemire's weak attempt by coming back even stronger. His elevation and hang time was so on point I could only say to myself, after tonight everyone will know who this kid is...

Stoudemire tries his hardest to bring to life an idea of having Steve Nash sort of half kick, half flip the ball with his feet and then dunk it. "It started off looking difficult but when he finally made the dunk - it ended up looking simplistic," said Barkley. After three attempts- no one cared.

It came to no surprise that Josh Smith won this contest 100-87. Afterwards, during an interview, Smith had this to say about his Wilkins tribute dunk: "He didn't know that I was going to do that but I was going to do a dunk symbolizing what he did in his previous years." When asked if he thought Smith could fill his shoes Wilkins said, "He has his own shoes now. He shocked me."

I think everyone was surprised. If you saw it, you know what I'm talking about. If I remember correctly, Smith is the first rookie to win the slam dunk contest since Kobe Bryant took it home back in '97.

Smith grew up in Atlanta inspired by Wilkins, now future NBA stars will be inspired by him as well.

And that's what's up.